Hip Hop

The Hip Hop Music Genre

Hip hop is a musical genre, but is also the name of a broad cultural movement associated with the feeling and meaning of hip hop music. It was started in urban communities by African Americans and Latinos. Hip hop has four parts that as a whole make up the whole, but besides these it has a lot of subcultures and subgenres, so please keep in mind that this is just one way to categorize it.

Hip hop music is the main category, all the other categories are derived from here, or the inspiration comes from here. Vocal rhythmic and strong beats distinguish this art form from other types of music. A less apparent band setting is used than in common pop or rock, the voice is the dominant item in the music.

Hip hop dance is a part of hip hop, but uniquely it does not just accompany music. Usually when talking about rock and roll we also talk about the dance, which is danced when rock and roll is played. With hip hop it is a bit different. Break-dance and street dance make up the repertoire of hip hop dance, and as such can be danced totally "a Capella”. Even if you are not a big fan of hip hop, street dance is a sight to see, and is truly marvelous.

Hip hop art is usually thought of as graffiti, but I think that’s an unnecessary presumption. All types of art can be hip hop, I believe the key is inspiration here, not the medium. If narrowing down to a medium I would say street art is dominant. From the scribble on the wall to the jaw-droppingly beautiful street graffiti, everything fits in here.

Rapping is probably a genre all by itself, not just inside hip hop. It is part of the musical scene, but it does not require any music background to be played, it can be preformed a Capella, many-a inspired rappers start out on the streets like this.

Hip hop can probably be categorized a s a genre that affected street life very positively. It is credited with having replaces violence on the streets with another kind of tension-releasing method, one that is not just better, but way-way better. At first it replaced violence with hip hop battles, but later this was dislodged by gangster rap, that boasted about guns, drugs, and “ladies of negotiable affection”.

Hip hop was first composed using turntables, then drum machines, but now much of it is done with computer software. A kind of revolution was started by Dr. Dre, who introduced melody into the beat scene. This opened up the music to more people who prefer more melody in their music.